UK police: 21 total treated after spy poisoning

by The Associated Press

In this photo provided by Solent News & Photo Agency and taken on Sunday, March 4, 2018, a police officer without any protective gear crouches down next to the bench in the Maltings Shopping centre, where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found in Salisbury, England. Skripal and his daughter are in critical but stable condition at a hospital in Salisbury. A police officer who came to their aid is in a serious condition, though he is conscious and talking. He was identified Thursday as Sgt. Nick Bailey.(Thomas Belk/Solent News & Photo Agency via AP)

He says only three people remain hospitalized. They are fomer spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and police Sgt. Nick Bailey.

Officials say Bailey is making progress. The ex-spy and his daughter remain in critical condition.

Police say the roughly 21 people treated include the three still hospitalized.

Earlier Thursday, the global chemical weapons watchdog says it is in touch with authorities in Britain about the use of a rare nerve agent in an attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter.

In a brief written statement, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says that "the recent report that two people became seriously ill in the United Kingdom as a result of exposure to a nerve agent is a source of great concern."

The organization based in The Hague did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking more detail on the nature of the contacts with Britain.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd has told the House of Commons that enormous resources are being used to determine who is responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33. The pair were found unconscious on a bench in the city of Salisbury on Sunday.